Everything Changes (10 page)

Addy
walked
into the room, her blonde hair all over the place and two cups of coffee in her
hands. “He’s awfully cheery this morning.” She smiled with a wink, hip checking
me. “Did you hump him last night or what?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Pulling
the corner of the blanket towards my mouth, I kept my grin at bay.

“Well, Parker never does that shit. I’ve seen him
ride. He’s all business and now here he is showing off for you.”

I gave her a skeptical grin. “When have you seen
him ride before?”

“Remember that day you went to Seattle with your
mom?”

“Yeah?”

Addy
shrugged as if this shouldn’t have been a big deal. “I went riding with them in
Belfair that day.”

“Oh.”

“Parker is so showing off for you right now.” Her
nose pressed to the window when she noticed Justin out there too.

“He doesn’t know I’m watching.”

Addy
coughed. “Bullshit. He looks up here every ten seconds.”

Sure enough, he did. Every trick he did, he
looked at the window. I was in awe at the way he moved on the bike. Instead of
trying to control the bike, he tossed it around as though it weighed nothing.
He jumped off rocks, soared through the air with just a blimp of the throttle,
balanced on the foot pegs while standing, and hopped sideways to bounce off another
rock. All the while, he was able to stay on the bike with just balance,
throttle, and clutch control.

“He’s relaxed,” I offered.
I knew I had a part
in relaxing him.

I’d never seen Parker ride before today, and I
wasn’t disappointed.
Addy
and I had watched a few
Supercross races this last season on TV and attended the local Motocross races
in Washougal last year, but I had never seen
Parker
ride in person. He must have been there last year when we
went to Washougal, but I couldn’t remember seeing him.

Addy
leaned
into my shoulder. “Let’s go outside and watch.”

Once outside, I was taken
back
by the track they had, something I hadn’t noticed yesterday. There were large
boulders, steep hills, fabricated jumps, and logs.
 
Everything you could imagine jumping, either
on or off, was strategically placed around the five acre plot.

Justin and Parker messed around for a few minutes
checking out the course they had laid out behind the condo when Parker blipped
the throttle into a wheelie and then grabbed the front brakes into a front
wheel
endo
. He held onto the bars, his waist pushed
up against the gas tank.

After a few minutes of them messing around,
Parker blasted down the first straightaway followed closely by Justin. Guiding
the bike in and out of the tight hairpin turns, he shot for a sixty-foot triple
with just a flick of his wrist. He was sent some thirty feet into the air, and
the high pitch scream of the 250 two-stroke engine echoed through the canyons.

Parker looked relaxed up there. He was apparently
so relaxed, he took his right foot off the foot peg and swung it over the bike
behind him as though he was going to dismount the bike midair. Justin followed
the same move, only he went a step further by letting go with one hand before
pulling the bike back to him.

Negotiating a two hundred pound motorcycle with a
hair-trigger temper through the air like that required upper body strength, a
gymnast’s balance, and the precision of a brain surgeon. And these boys did it
at full speed through trees and boulders that could kill you. One mistake and
you would actually need a surgeon to put your body back together.

That was exactly why I stayed on the ground. The
first time I did a wheelie it was by accident when my hand slipped on the
throttle, and I nearly pissed myself. Then I grinned like a son of a bitch
because I stayed on the bike through it all.

Justin was the first to come over to us. Revving
the bike a few times, he pushed the kickstand out with his left foot before
shutting it off.

Addy
grinned. “That was so cool looking, babe.”

“Thanks, baby.” He kissed her forehead, yanking
her into a hug.

Babe? Baby? They have pet names now?

“You guys up for a ride today?” Justin wagged his
eyebrows.
Addy
giggled this high pitched squeal that
made me question her sanity and wonder if she had been raised by baby pigs.

“Sure,” she chirped, bouncing on her toes. “I’m
so excited!”

I paid little attention to them when I saw Parker
soaring through the air again. This time he’d flipped the bike and hung onto
the rear fender, arching his back before pulling the bike back towards his body
midair and landing perfectly.

Justin glanced over his shoulder, grunting before
regarding me with a curious grin. “He’s such a showoff,” he mumbled and then
nudged my shoulder with his helmet. “Are you behind this handy work?”

Handy work?

If only he knew.

“What?” was my squeaky pig reply.
Addy
and I were apparently raised by the same pig family.

Justin climbed off his bike, hooking his helmet
on his handlebars. “My brother hasn’t done tricks on his bike in two years.”
His smile grew as he pushed his dark mess of hair from his face. “Now, here he
is doing stunts that most people take years to learn, and he picks it back up
like he’s been doing them all along.”

“I…don’t know…” I sputtered like a baby in bath
water. Amused, Justin nudged my shoulder again. “Hey, I get it…you’re good for
him.” He turned to
Addy
who was still smiling. “Go
get ready. We’re going to take you guys out on Chicken Corners trail.”

Great
.

I wasn’t enthused and dragged my feet back inside
the condo to change. By the time I reached the garage, I still didn’t have much
motivation. I was nervous to ride with them.

While putting on my boots, I eyed my Honda CR125
cautiously. It was my first ride with Parker, and I was freaking out. What if I
crashed? What if I stalled it just trying to start?

Please don’t freak out and forget how to ride.

The pep talk with myself was interrupted by
Parker smiling at me as he shuffled inside the garage, his goggles around his
neck and a water bottle in hand. “I hear you’re going for a ride.”

Ride?

My eyes, my stupid Cosmo trained eyes, ran down
his body, thinking of exactly what kind of ride I could give him. He was clad
in a black and white jersey with yellow Suzuki letters. His black protective
pants fit loose enough I couldn’t see what I wanted, but tight enough I didn’t
have to wonder much. The white, black, and yellow boots came up to his
mid-calf, and his pants were tucked inside of them. His dark sweaty hair was
caked to the side of his flushed face, and his eyes were bright as he kept the
smile in place.

He was adorable.

Peeling off his gloves, he knelt next to me and
reached for the boots I was struggling with. “Let me help you with those.” Two
strong hands took my leg and lifted it to his knee. “You seem distracted.”

“You have no idea,” I muttered under my breath.

“Oh, I think I have an idea.” He winked, his
hands wrapped around my boot to fasten the latches. Parker’s eyes met mine
again. “I’m a little disappointed I’ve never seen you wear these pants before
now.”

Looking down at my black riding pants, my shy
side returned.

After getting all my gear situated, Parker looked
over my bike, checking my suspension, gas, and oil. He pulled on the levers to
make sure they worked, oiled the chain, checked the cables, and then topped off
my gas for me. All things I was capable of doing, but I loved to watch him do
it.

I noticed Justin hovered over Addy’s bike doing
the same as she watched, admiring him.

It wasn’t long before they loaded up the bikes
and we headed towards the trail.

Moab, Utah was beautiful with amazing fiery
sunsets and hundreds of miles of old mining roads to explore.

The Chicken Corners trail traveled the Colorado
River Canyon just below Moab and followed a part of Kane Springs Canyon. The
trail climbed the Kane Creek anticlines to Hurrah pass and then dead-ended
about four hundred feet above the river, across from Dead Horse Point.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the trail, and by
time we were there, I knew Parker sensed my nerves. Justin and
Addy
took off, and I wasn’t so sure they’d be riding today.
They seemed awfully touchy feely on the way there that I thought they’d end up
sneaking away.

With my helmet in hand, I sat there on my bike at
the trailhead, waiting for motivation.

Parker pulled up beside me and flicked the
throttle of his bike once and then shut it off. Placing both feet on the
ground, he pulled his helmet off and rested it on the gas tank in front of him.

Adjusting the strap of his goggles on the helmet,
he looked over at me with a tilt of his head towards the trail. “You ready?”

“No.”

“Scared?”

“Yep.” I refused to look at him. Not only was I
confused about last night, but I was freaking out about riding in front of him.
Parker was a pro rider, and here I was, little Rowan who frequently had to have
people help her out of the mud and down steep hills because her two hundred
pound bike weighed twice as much as her. If I had any mind, I should have
turned around.
 

So add fear and confusion, then scoop on a big
fat gob of infatuation, and that should sum it up for you.

“Most of what you see out there is sand.” Parker
shrugged trying to reason with me. I think he knew I was moments away from
backing out on this whole trail ride. “If you can figure that out, you’ll do
fine.”

“Sand?”

“Yeah.” He kicked the sand beneath him, sliding
his boots along the ground. “Sand.”

“And how do I figure out sand?” I looked over at
him, nervously biting my lip.

He offered a reassuring smile. “Knobby tires work
best, which you have. The object is to keep your momentum and remember your
braking point is later on sand. You want to be on the brakes or the gas. You’ll
have more control that way, rather than just coasting and falling over.”

“Wow,” I replied sarcastically, “sounds simple. I
don’t know what I was worried about.”

Parker laughed, shifting his weight on the bike
and sliding further back on the seat. “It’s not that hard. Just keep in mind
everything changes on sand compared to the trails you’re used to in the
northwest. It’s constantly moving underneath you so you don’t have traction.
Momentum is tough.”

“What if I uh…how do I stop if I’m going too
fast?”

Parker laughed again sensing my frustration.
“Normally…you would rely seventy five percent on your front brakes. Sand, it’s
the opposite. It’s a natural resistant. You’ll begin slowing as soon as you
lift. If you use too much front brake, you’ll wash out. Keep your front end
light and keep the momentum going.”

“Sounds simple.” I was still sarcastic and he
knew it.

It wasn’t. I hated sand. I didn’t like the out of
control feeling I got on it, and I was constantly washing out. I spent more
time digging myself out of the sand than actually on the bike. I felt like a
damn dog trying to find its treasure in the dirt, except I was trying to find
my bike. Even though I was wearing a shit load of riding gear, I was certain
there was sand in places I never wanted it to be.

Parker was a good sport. He rode behind me,
helped when I fell, and rode my bike over everything I couldn’t, which was the
majority of everything we encountered. Hey, I made it to the top, or at least
Parker did while I walked. He looked tired by the time we got there but the
views were breathtaking.

Looking out at the Colorado River, we stood next
to each other after he parked the bikes and drank some water. Parker pushed
against my shoulder with his. “You did good out there.”

“Yeah, more like
you
did good.” I took a
long pull from the water bottle, not feeling so attractive with the thick coat
of sweat and dirt that was spread over me. “I walked most of the way up here.”

He chuckled, bringing his water bottle to his
mouth. Before taking a drink, he let out another laugh, his eyes darting to
mine with a teasing edge. “At least I got a good view from where I was at.”

“Wow, you really aren’t shy, are you?”

“I told you…I’m not shy.” Parker handed me a
granola bar. “I just don’t have much to say.”

“I don’t think I entirely believe that.”

“Well...” He leaned back, resting against a rock
along the lookout point, his weight shifting to one side as he ate his own
granola bar slowly. We could see Justin and
Addy
in
the distance sitting down in the canyon beside each other, appearing to be
talking. “I shouldn’t say I’m
not
shy. Sometimes, yes I am, but with
you…it’s easier to be myself.”